Sunday was a day of getting used to my new life.  I spent time in the exercise room and at the pool and I spent some time at the storage unit working on the Mustang.

Monday morning when I got to work Doris, who had already been there for a half hour, told me that Sandi had called three times in the past fifteen minutes.  I decided to get it over with and I called her at work.  The receptionist told me that she was in a meeting, but had left instructions that if I called Cheri was to interrupt the meeting and get her.  Thirty seconds later Sandi was on the phone.

“You did it” she said.  “You actually did it.  How could you just throw away twenty-three years away?”

“Me?  I didn’t throw anything away Sandi; it is all on you.  Anyway, I am returning your three calls this morning.  What do you want?”

“We need to sit down and talk Bob.  This is getting totally out of hand.”

“There is nothing to talk about Sandi.  You did what you did and I can not accept it.”

“Okay, okay, I made a mistake.  A big mistake, but it doesn’t change the fact that we love each other.  We can get by this Bob.  I know I’ll have my work cut out for me, but we can do it.  Just give me a chance Bob.”

“Why would I want to do that when by your own admission you were going to keep on stabbing me in the back for years and years to come?”

“I never said that!”

“Sure you did.  You told me that you were letting Dale have your ass until you could get me to tap it.  Do you deny that?”

“Well, no but…”

“No buts Sandi.  You have been giving Dale your ass for the last three months.  In those three months did you do anything to start to ease me into thinking about trying to get you to let me have anal sex with you?  No you didn’t.  You were going to keep fucking Dale until I made a move to try and have anal sex with you only I was never going to make that move.  You said no to anal sex so many times that I came to accept that it never was going to happen and as a result I was never going to mention it again.  That meant that you would keep on giving your ass to Dale for years and years to come.

“Barry told me that the boys were already making plans for the party they were going to have with you in nine months when you and Dale go back there to renegotiate the contract.  And you would do it.  After all, wouldn’t you have been fucking Dale for a year and didn’t you get into it the last time?”

“Damn it Bob; I will never do anything like that ever again!”

“The problem Sandi is that I don’t believe you.  If I hadn’t found out and confronted you about it you would still be fucking Dale several times a week.  I’ve got an in at Martin and my mole tells me that Dale is trying to set you up for a gangbang with some of the other guys you work with and why would Dale do that if he didn’t think you would go along with it?”

“Your mole is right.  He has been after me to do it, but your mole should be telling you that I have absolutely refused to even consider it.  It is not going to happen Bob.”

“That’s what you say Sandi, but again, I don’t believe anything you say any more.  The ease with which you have been cheating on me these last three months has me thinking that you have done it even before that Chicago trip.”

“Damn it Bob; I never ever did that!”

“How do you drive thoughts like that out of my mind given that I know what you have been doing?  Those thoughts are there Sandi because your actions put them there and they will not go away.  In fact, every time I see you or talk to you they come rushing back to the front of my mind.  I’m sorry Sandi, but I can’t live like that.  I can’t spend my time wondering where you are or what you might be doing and who you might be doing it with.  Again, the ease with which you have cheated on me since your Chicago trip is always going to be on my mind.”

“I’ll quit the job.”

“Won’t matter Sandi.  I’ll still be working and since I can’t be with you twenty-four hours a day seven days a week I’d always be wondering what you were doing when I wasn’t around.  Keep the job Sandi.  It pays well and it is more than you would get in alimony.”

“I’m not going to give up Bob.  I love you and I know you love me and I know that we can work things out if you will just give me a chance.”

“I do love you Sandi and I probably always will, but I can’t live with you.  I’m sorry, but I just can’t.  From now on all communication between us needs to go through my attorney.  Goodbye Sandi.”

I hung up and I heard “Life sucks doesn’t it!”  I looked over and saw Pauline standing in the doorway between her office and mine.

“Yes it does” I said, “but it still goes on.”

“Can I offer to cheer you up?  I make a pretty good meatloaf and I wouldn’t mind company for dinner tonight.”

I thought about it for a few seconds and then said, “Sure; why not.  I’ll bring the wine.”

As soon as Pauline opened the door to her condo I saw that she was hoping for more than just a companion for dinner.  Her blouse was cut low, her skirt was high and so were her heels.  I did have to admit that she looked good enough to eat and I was sure that was the effect that she was aiming for.

She hadn’t fibbed; she did indeed make a pretty good meat loaf.  It was served with a baked potato, french style green beans and crusty sourdough bread.  We washed it down with the Cabernet Sauvignon that I’d brought and then I helped her to do the dishes.  As we left the kitchen for the living room Pauline said:

“I’m not a very subtle person Bob.  I have a tendency to go after what I want so I think you should know that there is nothing underneath what I’m wearing but skin.  That should tell you what I’m hoping to have for dessert.”

“That’s a very tempting offer, but I’m still a married man.”

“Bull crap boss man.  You filed for divorce and I heard you on the phone telling her there wasn’t a chance in hell that you would change your mind.  To me that means that your marriage is over and therefore you are as good as single.”

As she said that she was taking off her blouse and dropping her skirt on the floor.  She stood there before me naked except for her high heels and as I feasted my eyes on her she said:

“You really want to turn this down?”

What the hell; I was only human.  I was sitting there with a cock so hard you could have split bricks with it while the voices in my head argued.  “You can’t!”  “Yes you can.”  “It isn’t right; you are still married.”  “No I’m not.  I’ve moved out and I’m moving on.”

Pauline interrupted my thoughts.  “Come on Bob; you know you want to.”

I stood up and she walked up to me and reached for my zipper and I stopped fighting it.

Pauline lived up to all that the package had promised.  She was hot and she was damned near insatiable.  She sucked me, I ate her, we made love, went sixty-nine and made love again.  We showered together and I took her from behind as she leaned against the shower wall.  As I was dressing she said:

“You don’t have to go.  I’d like to wake up next to you in the morning.”

“If I don’t leave now I wouldn’t leave you alone and I wouldn’t have enough energy left in me to drag myself into work in the morning.”

“Get user to it lover; it is going to be your steady diet from now on.”

As I drove back to my apartment I wondered if I was physically able to handle a steady diet of what Pauline promised.  I also wondered if I wanted to jump into a new long term relationship when I didn’t even have the paperwork that would end my last one.  I fell into an exhausted sleep when my head hit my pillow.

+++++++++++++++++++++

The next day Pauline was totally professional.  No one seeing us together would have even thought that there was something going on between us.  It wasn’t until quitting time and after Doris had gone home that she asked:

“Are you stopping by tonight?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

I saw the disappointment in her eyes and I said, “I thought that since you cooked for me last night I would cook for you tonight.”

Dessert at my place was every bit as exhausting as dessert at her place had been.  The only difference was that she was still in my bed when the clock went off at six.  Our morning shower had predictable results and we had to hurry in order to make it to work on time.

Every night for the next six weeks found me either at Pauline’s place or Pauline at mine.  At work everything was kept on a professional level and no one would suspect ever suspect up of being bad.

Sandi had stopped trying to get in touch with me and my attorney told me that she had gotten an attorney and was fighting the divorce.

“She can’t stop it, but she can slow it down and make it expensive enough that you might decide to drop it.”

“Let me think about it for a bit.  I might be able to come up with something that will make her back off.”

Just when I thought that life couldn’t get any more complicated I got a phone call that proved me wrong.  I was sitting in a booth at Duke’s Steak House looking at the menu when I saw Pauline coming toward me.  I wondered how she knew I was there, but then I noticed that she wasn’t wearing the same clothes that she was wearing when I left the office.  Since she didn’t know that I was going to be here I concluded that she was meeting someone.

Wrong conclusion I thought as she headed right for me.  She walked up to the table and I stood to greet her.  Instead of just taking a seat she offered me her hand as she said:

“Hi.  I’m Pat and I can tell from the look on your face that you didn’t know that Paulie and I are twins.”

“No, as a matter of fact I didn’t know.  Please sit down.  What can I get you to drink?”

“A vodka tonic with a slice of lime would go good right about now.”

The waitress was there as soon as Pat sat down and I ordered drinks for both Pat and myself.  As soon as the waitress was gone I asked:

“So what is this really important thing that you need to talk to me about?  All your phone call said was that it was important that you see me about Pauline.”

“There is this thing about twins.  They are either joined at the hip, know each others thoughts and they live and act as one or they hate each other.  Maybe not hate, but they don’t get along all that well.  Paulie and I fall into that second category.  We didn’t start out that way, but when we reached middle school things started going bad between us.  Paulie started wanting what I had.  Before we started middle school we shared.  What was mine was hers and what was hers was mine. 

In middle school we discovered boys and for some reason if I had a boy Paulie just had to take him away from me.  I never understood it because she could have had her pick of guys, but the ones she wanted were always the ones I had.  In fact, if she had a boyfriend when I started seeing a guy she would drop her boyfriend and then start after my guy. She was always able to take them away from me because she would always give them something that I wouldn’t.  I wouldn’t put out, but Pauline would and did.  It went on all the way through junior high and high school and it only stopped after high school because we went to different colleges.”

At that point our waitress arrived with our drinks and took our order.  When she was gone I asked:

“What has that got to do with me?”

“I’m getting to that.  I went to college here and Paulie went to college in Ohio so she wasn’t around to intrude on my relationships.  I met Brian and fell in love and it seemed that he loved me.  I started planning my future with Brian.  Paulie didn’t know Brian and had never met him.  When she came home on summer break between our sophomore and junior years he was back in Ohio working as an intern at his father’s business. 

“She finally met him during spring break in our junior year.  Brian didn’t go home for break and Paulie came home and they met.  By that time Brian and I were already planning on being married the week after graduation.  I didn’t think anything at all about Paulie trying to take Brian away from me because Brian and I were in love and there was nothing Paulie could do about it.  I should have been on my guard, but I wasn’t.

“Paulie and I look alike, sound alike and act alike.  If I hadn’t told you I was Paulie’s sister would you have known?  I mean if I had just walked up and sat down and asked you to order me a drink would you have known I wasn’t Paulie?”

I had to admit that I would not and then I asked for the second time what it had to do with me.

“Be patient with me for another couple of minutes.  You have to know the story behind things before I let you know where you come in.  It was a Tuesday night and I had a date with Brian to go to a play we wanted to see.  I was running a little late getting home and I wasn’t there when Brian got there.  Paulie was and she pretended to be me and she and Brian left.  There were gone when I got home and I hurriedly got ready for my date and then I waited and waited for Brian, but he never showed.  I couldn’t understand his standing me up.  If something had come up surely he would have called.  I went to bed pissed and I was asleep when Brian brought Paulie home.

“The next day when I asked him where he had been and why he hadn’t at least called he asked me what in the hell I was talking about.  That is when I found out what Paulie had done.  I got into a big fight with Paulie over it and she said it was just a practical joke.  I couldn’t fault Brian over it because how could he have known?

“Things settled down and Paulie went back to school.  Summer break came and Brian went back to Ohio to work in his father’s business.  Paulie didn’t come home for the summer.  She said she was taking summer classes so she could graduate early.  A month into summer vacation I got to missing Brian really bad so I decided to go see him.  I didn’t call ahead because I wanted to surprise him.  I was the one surprised.  I caught Brian and Paulie together.  To cut the story short Paulie put out for him on the date she stole from me.  I had never put out for Brian because I intended walking down the aisle a virgin, but once he had a taste of Paulie he wanted more and he and Pauline managed to get it on a couple of more times over spring break.  They picked up where they left off when Brian went back to Ohio for the summer.

I’m afraid that I wasn’t very lady-like when I caught them.  I called Brian every name I could think on and I kicked him in the balls a couple of times, told him I hoped he rotted in hell and then came home.  Blood being thicker than water and family being family Paulie and I eventually got back on speaking terms.  She even told me that she was doing it for me and that she intended to tell me about it at the end of summer vacation.  She told me that Brian knew that it wasn’t me when he took her out on that date and that he went after her so that after we were married he would be able to say he had slept with twins.  I never spoke to Brian again so I have no idea if that was true or not.

“That brings us to your question.  What does any of it have to do with you?  I promised myself that some day I would get even with Paulie.  It has taken years, but I can finally stick it to her.”

“Again, I fail to see where I enter in to this.”

“Paulie has set her sights on you.  She is already seeing herself as your next wife.  My goal is to keep that from happening and even though Paulie is not aware of it she is helping me reach that goal.”

At that point our order came and the talking stopped as we ate.  As we ate I was thinking about what Pat had said.  I was thinking of Pauline as a second wife and why wouldn’t I?  Great looking, a good cook. Fun to be with and marvelous in bed.  Her apartment was always spotless and she certainly seemed to care for me.  I had a hard time believing that Pat thought she could prevent Pauline and I from getting permanently together and an even harder time believing Pauline would help Pat reach her goal even inadvertently.

Gail and I both said no to dessert and I said, “Okay Pat, I know why you want to sabotage Pauline’s relationship with me, but what makes you think you can do it?”

“I’ll let Pauline do it for me.”

She reached into her purse and brought out a mini-cassette recorder and set it on the table between us.

“Paulie conveniently forgets how she has been where I am concerned and when she visits and gets a few glasses of wine in her she gets very talkative and I listen.  I know Paulie and how she is and once she told me about her plans for you I started to secretly tape our conversations.  This one is from last Tuesday.  She pushed the ‘play’ button.

“So how goes your seduction of your boss?”

“I’ve got him wrapped around my little finger” Pauline said and then she laughed.  “Or maybe I should say I’ve got his cock wrapped with my pussy.”

“Just what is so special about this guy?”

“He’s got money honey and he is going to make a lot more now that he has been promoted and I can see a couple of more promotions in his future.  I’m going to be on easy street Pat.  I’ll be living the life I deserve.”

“But do you love him?”

“Love smove; all that matters is that I like him enough to put up with him.  He’s not half bad in bed, but it doesn’t matter.  If I’m in the mood for a real fucking I’ve always got Randy to fall back on.”

“You would cheat on him?  Isn’t that why he is divorcing his current wife?”

“I’m smarter than she was.  The stupid cunt set herself up to be caught,  Bob will never know about Randy.”

“You would risk the good life you say you want just to screw an ex-boyfriend?”

“We are great together in bed.  Why give up great sex if you don’t have to?”

“So you are going to marry this guy for money and keep Randy around for sex.”

 “Yep.  The best of both worlds.”

Pat hit the stop button.  Maybe you think her pussy is worth living with the cheating she is going to be doing.  Only you know that, but I can at least say that you were warned.”

“I guess you can.  I suppose I should thank you, but…oh damn!  I had two girls cheat on me before I met Sandi and then Sandi and now this.  What the hell do I have to do to get a woman who will stay faithful?”

“She’s out there.  You’ll find her.”

I looked at her and then smiled.  “How much like your sister are you?”

“What do you mean?”

“I was thinking along the lines of a re-enactment.  Pauline pretended to be you to snag Brian so you tell her you pretended to be her to hook me.  Say we arrived at the restaurant at the same time.  I was surprised to see Pauline and before you could tell me that you were her twin sister I said we should skip lunch and go to my place and have a nooner.  You saw the chance to get even with her for what she did with Brian and you took it.”

“It would be perfect except for one thing.  I’m not like Paulie that way.  I don’t just jump into bed with guys.”

“Not even to get back at Pauline?”

“Not even.”

That isn’t what I wanted to hear, but I wanted to stay on Pat’s good side so I said, “Good.”

“Good?”

“I’m not the kind of guy who can just jump into bed with a girl, but Pauline doesn’t have to know that we didn’t do anything.  I’ll take the rest of the afternoon off and when I go into work in the morning she will no doubt ask me where I was and I’ll look at her astonished and tell her that she knows damned well where we were and then say something like “Was my performance in bed so bad that you’ve already forgotten it?”  Which ever way the conversation goes Pauline will end up knowing that as far as I knew I’d spent the afternoon in bed with her – or someone who looked an awful lot like her.  She’s not stupid and she will figure it out and when she hits you with it all you have to do is say:

“Remember Brian?  The scales are being balanced.  I liked him and I’m going to do my best to see him some more.”

“Just don’t tell her about the recording.  She is a pretty good PA and I want to keep her around.  Also I’ll let her keep my bed warm until she finally figures out that I’m not going to marry her.”

“If you need a bed warmer why not let your wife do it?  She would kill for the chance.”

“How do you know that?”

“We have become friends since I told her what Dale had planned for her.”

“What Dale had planned for her?”

“I know Paulie told you what I told her about overhearing what Dale, Jared and Tom talked about in the men’s room.  Well, after that every time I saw two or three of them go into the bathroom together I would go into the supply closet and listen to what they talked about.  I heard Dale tell them he couldn’t get your wife to do a gangbang and that your wife had cut him off.  I heard both Jared and Tom tell Dale they had tried to get your wife to go out with then and she wouldn’t. 

“I heard Dale tell Jared that your wife told him to leave her alone and stop trying to get her to have sex with him or she would go to management and file sexual harassment charges against him and that Chicago would probably be brought up and they would both be out of work.

“The one that finally made me go to your wife was when Dale told Tom that the next time he had a working lunch with your wife he would slip her some date rape drugs, get her in a hotel room and then call Tom and Jared and they could have the gangbang they wanted.  I went to your wife, told what I’d heard and since then we have become good friends.

“She knows what she did was wrong and she hates herself for it, but what is killing her is losing you.  I know what she did and why and she did screw up big time, but are you a saint?  Look back on your life and I’m sure that you will see times when you screwed the pooch big time and I’m sure that at those times someone had to forgive you.  Why can’t you find a little forgiveness in you?”

She looked at her watch and said, “I’ve got to get back to work.”  She opened her purse, took out a business card and handed it to me.  “Call my cell and keep me up to date on what you tell Paulie so I can match your story when she jumps me over our ‘afternoon dalliance” and then she was gone leaving me with a headful of questions and no answers.  I remembered what Doris had said about Pauline and I wondered what it was that she saw in Pauline that I had missed.

I caught the afternoon matinee at the Rialto to kill the afternoon and then I went home.  When my cell chimed I looked at the display and saw that it was Pauline so I let it go to voice mail.  She called me twice more in the next two hours and I took the second call.  After I said hello she asked if I was home and when I said yes she asked if she could come over.

“You didn’t get enough this afternoon?”

“Enough what?”

“Oh come on Pauline; was my performance in bed so bad that you have forgotten about it all ready?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Skipping lunch and having a long afternoon in bed with you.  What else would I be talking about?”

She was silent for a bit and then she said, “I just remembered that I promised my sister I’d stop by and see her tonight.  See you in the morning okay?  Bye.”

As soon as I hung up I got out Pat’s card and gave her a call.  When she answered I said:

“Don’t need to wait until tomorrow to talk to Pauline.  She just called and wanted to know if she could come over” and then I told her how the conversation had gone.  “If I’m right she is all ready on her way over to see you.  Call me and let me know how things go.”

“I’ll do that.  Bye.”

I figured that I wouldn’t hear from Pat until the next day so I watched some TV before going to bed.  I was sitting up in bed reading Randy Wayne White’s newest novel when my phone rang.  I saw that it was Pat’s number so I answered it.  After my greeting she said:

“Paulie just left and she was fuming.  Called me a treacherous bitch and I just laughed at her.  Anyway, she came over like you thought and as soon as she was in the door she asked me where I had been that afternoon and I knew that she had figured it out.  I told her the story you suggested and then said that it was so good that I was thinking of going after you myself.  That’s when she called me a treacherous bitch.  I laughed at her and said:

“Remember Brian?  I think this makes us even so now all you have to worry about is whether or not I’ll settle for even or if I might want to get ahead.”

“That’s when she stormed out.  Keep me up on what happens next okay?”

“You got it.  Talk to you later.”

I was smiling when I finished the chapter I was reading and then I turned off the night and went to sleep.

+++++++++++++++++++++

The next day at work Pauline was as professional as usual and just before quitting time she asked:

“Your place or mine?”

I thought of pulling her leg and telling her that I had something else going that night, but then decided not to push it.  Pauline was good pussy and I saw no sense in messing up a good thing until I absolutely had to so I said:

“Your choice.”

“My place then.  I feel like cooking and I’ve always heard that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.”

“For some men maybe, but the way to mine is below my stomach and hangs down when it isn’t sticking straight out.”

“I’ll try both routes then just to make sure I get where I want to go.”

I just smiled and she told me that she would see me there.  As she walked out of my office I watched her ass and thought that it was too damned bad that she was the way she was.  If I hadn’t heard the tape that Pat had made Pauline could have very well been my second wife.  That thought caused me to think of my first wife and I thought about what Pat had told me.  I made two decisions and both of them were going to cost me.  One would cost me some money and one could cost me some time in jail, but I had to do them.

I got out the Yellow Pages and found what I was looking for and made an appointment for the next day and then I headed over to Pauline’s to get fed and fucked.  The next day Gavin Meyers of Spenser Investigations took my check and the information I’d given him and told me that I should hear from him in about two weeks. 

The two weeks flew by and were fairly uneventful.  I was spending the night with Pauline three or four nights a week either at my place or hers and we had sex almost every night and some times in the mornings.  Half a dozen times during both weeks Pauline had me do her in her butt and I loved it.  When Sandi had tied me to the bed and basically raped me I had loved the super tight feel of her ass and she had obviously liked my being in there.  Pauline loved it too.  She even had orgasms several times while I packed her fudge.

Two weeks to the day Gavin Meyers from Spenser Investigations called me and told me he had what I wanted.  It was all there.  The nights I hadn’t been with Pauline she had spent with Randy McComb.  I already knew about Randy from Pat, but I couldn’t throw Randy in Pauline’s face without her knowing that I got it from Pat so I had to have another source.  I didn’t intend to use it any time soon because as I had told Pat Pauline was a damned good PA and I was in no hurry to lose her.  However I did see the time coming when I would have to use it.

The other information I got from Spenser would be put to immediate use.  I called in some favors and then one night when Dale pulled into his driveway and got out of his car I was waiting and he never saw the first punch.  It was not supposed to be a fair fight; it was supposed to be a beating so I didn’t feel the least bit guilty about the sucker punch.  I was wearing a ski mask so he couldn’t see my face, but that wouldn’t keep him from knowing who I was.

After that first punch I beat the shit out of him.  He was lying on the ground and barely moving when I kicked him twice in the crotch.  I bent down, grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled his face up to mine.  With my face only inches from his I said:

“This is only a sample of what will happen to you the next time you lay a finger on Sandi.  Put all thoughts of Sandi, date rape drugs and gangbangs out of your mind.  If I hear that you have been anything but professional with her I’ll see you again and you have my solemn promise that next time I’ll put you in the intensive care unit at the hospital.”

I let go of his hair, kicked him in the family jewels one more time and then I left.  Did I worry about the police?  Of course I did, but the favors I’d called in were from five guys who would swear that I had been playing poker with them all evening.  Could the cops break the alibi?  Possibly, if they tried hard enough, but I was gambling that they wouldn’t try all that hard.  Maybe if I had killed Dale, but just for a beating?  I didn’t think so.  Also there was the fact that I was sure Dale recognized who his assailant was and that if the cops dug deep enough and hard enough that the reason for the beating would come out and I was pretty sure that he didn’t want that.  Like I said; it was a gamble.

After I left Dale’s I drove over to the south side of town.  It was a night that Pauline and I weren’t going to get together and out of curiosity I drove past 1343 Windsong Lane and I saw that Pauline’s car was parked in the driveway.  Just for a second I thought it might be interesting to stop, ring the doorbell and ask if I could have a few words with Pauline, but I quickly shook off the thought and headed for home.

The next morning I called Pat and asked her to keep her ear to the ground for me over the next couple of days and she said she would and then asked me why.  I just told her that there had been some recent developments that might make things in her department at Martin’s interesting and that if I was right there would be no more talk about date rape drugs and gangbangs.

That afternoon my attorney called me and told me that Sandi’s attorney had asked for a conference to discuss voluntary counseling and that if I wasn’t willing he would petition the court to order counseling.  I told him that no way was I going to agree to that and to put to bed the bullshit about court ordered counseling I would just go ahead and stop the divorce.

“Just pull the papers and send me your bill.  When she finds some other guy and decides to get married again she can bring the divorce.”

“I hate to say it, but that’s probably your best move at this point.”

The next morning I was just walking into my office after a ten o’clock meeting when the phone rang.  Gwen, my new secretary answered it and said it was for me.  I picked up and it was Pat.

“Dale came to work this morning with two black eyes, a split lip and walking with a limp.  I put that and your phone call yesterday together and came up with what I believe is the right answer.  Care to comment?”

“Nothing other than to say that it couldn’t have happened to a more deserving guy.”

“The story he is putting out is that he was mugged and his wallet was stolen.”

That pretty much told me that my gamble had paid off and I wouldn’t be having a visit from the police.

“Thanks for the call.  Keep your eyes open okay?”

“I will.  Take care.  Bye-bye.”

That afternoon just after three Gwen told me that I had a call on line two.  I picked up the phone, said hello and heard Sandi say:

“You still care.  I know you do so why won’t you give me a chance?”

“Because I don’t want to get burned again.”

“You don’t have to worry about that.  You know that it isn’t going to happen again.”

“I knew it was something I was never going to have to worry about when we said our vows, but it still happened didn’t it?”

“I explained that Bob.  You have to know that I will never let it happen again.”

“I’ve already told you Sandi; we could have possibly have gotten by what happened in Chicago, but the three months after are the sticking point.”

“I explained that too Bob.  There was no love or affection involved.  It was just something to hold me while I tried to come up with a way to get you to try anal.”

“I don’t seem to recall any attempt on your part to get me to have anal sex with you Sandi.  Not once during the three months you were putting out for Dale do I remember you doing anything to even remotely suggest that you wanted me to try anal sex with you.”

“I couldn’t.  If I would have you would have wondered why my sudden interest after always having said no.  I had to wait for you to bring it up.  Please Bob, give me a chance.  I know you still care.  What you did to Dale proves that.”

“What I did to Dale?  I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“Bullshit Bob.  Deny it all you want, but I know it was you who beat him up.  He has been walking on eggshells around me ever since he got to work this morning.  I know you care so why won’t you give me a chance?”

“I have to hang up now Sandi.  I have a meeting to go to.  Goodbye.”

I didn’t have a meeting to go to, but I needed to end the conversation.  The fact was that I did care.  Actually the fact was that I still loved the woman, but I didn’t think that I could live with her given her three month affair with Dale.  I sat there staring at the phone as I wondered about what I’d just thought.  I didn’t ‘think’ that I could live with her, but did I ‘know’ that I couldn’t?  That prompted the thought “Why not give her the chance she wanted and see?”  My thoughts were interrupted by Gwen telling me that Frank wanted to see me so I got up and headed for his office.

When I got back to my office it was almost quitting time and I asked Pauline if it would be her place or mine that night.

“Neither sweetie.  I promised my sister I’d stop by and visit her tonight.”

I put a disappointed look on my face and she caught it and said, “I’ll make it up to you tomorrow night lover.  Take your vitamins; it could be a long night for you.”

On a hunch I went into the men’s room, took out my cell and called Pat.  As I expected she didn’t know anything at all about a visit from her sister.

“I haven’t talked to Paulie since the night she stormed out of my place.”

That told me that Pauline was probably going to be spending the night at a condo on Windsong Lane.

I left work and headed for Bud’s Bar for a brew or two and while I sat at the bar nursing a PBR and watching the Bronco’s beating the Raiders I again wondered if Sandi and I could make a go of it.  On a whim I left the bar and headed for the house.  As I turned onto the street I saw Sandi getting into a car parked in front of the house.  I saw her slide over and kiss the driver.  Not a quick peck on the cheek, but a solid kiss.  When the car drove away from the curb I decided to follow.  Ten minutes later the car pulled into the parking lot at the Texas Roadhouse.  Sandi and the driver sat in the car and necked for a couple of minutes and then she and the man got out of the car and, then hand in hand, they walked into the restaurant.  Once out of the car I recognized the man.  It was Bill Neubert.  He had been Sandi’s boyfriend from the seventh grade until their second year in college.  They’d had a big fight and had broken up and a week after their breakup I’d asked Sandi for a date and we had been together ever since.

Curiosity got the best of me and so I waited until they came out and then I followed them back to the house.  They both went inside and an hour later the inside lights went out and after an hour wait with no one coming out of the house I headed on back to my place.  As I drove back to my apartment I thought of a couple of things and decided to go ahead and do them.  The house still had my name on the mortgage so I had the legal right to do what I wanted to do.

In the morning I called Gavin at Spenser Investigations and told him what I needed and the next day, after making sure that Sandi was at work, I met a man from Spenser’s and by noon the house was wired for audio and video.  When I first saw my attorney he had informed me that without direct physical evidence of adultery I would be hard put to come out of the divorce without being on the losing end financially.  All I had was Sandi’s confession and she could always deny it if it was in her best interests.

 If Sandi and Neubert were doing what I was certain they were doing I would have evidence that I could use if I reinstated the divorce.  Sandi and I were still married and it would be evidence of adultery.  I knew I was just as guilty, but I didn’t know if Sandi even knew about Pauline, but even if she did I doubted that she would put a private detective on me to gather evidence.  Why would she?  She wanted us back together.  Curiously enough I was not angry or upset at what she was doing with Neubert.  I realized she was a healthy female and had needs and I wasn’t there to fulfill them.  After all it was the same needs that were behind my taking up with Pauline.  The difference between what she was doing with Neubert and what she had done with Dale is that while she was fucking around with Dale I had been there to meet her needs.  It was no fault of mine that I hadn’t been meeting her anal needs.  That was strictly on her.

++++++++++++++++++++

The next three weeks went by and once a week I would stop by the house while Sandi was at work and get the DVD out of the recorder hidden in the garage and put a fresh one in and then I’d get the tape out of the recorder on the phone line and put a new tape in.  I’d watch the discs at my apartment while waiting for Pauline or on nights when Pauline and I didn’t get together.  Neubert wasn’t there every night, but he did average twice a week.

It wasn’t the sex I was paying attention to although at times I did get a charge out of watching Sandi fuck.  She wasn’t any different with Neubert than she had been with me, but I was seeing things I’d never been able to see when I was doing her.  I’d never seen her facial expressions when I had been doing her doggie or reverse cowgirl.  I’d never seen her feet when I made love to her so I never knew that the toes on her right foot curled downward and the toes on her left foot didn’t.

What I got out of the discs was what was talked about.  Neubert wanted her to let the divorce happen so he could marry her, but she kept telling him that the only man she wanted to be married to was me and that she would never consent to a divorce.  She said she would fight to the death to keep it from happening.

“As long as we are married I have hope that he will come back.”

“How can you make love to me if you feel that strongly about him?”

“I am not making love to you.  I am a healthy woman and I need sex and I’m getting what I need from you.  That’s all it is Bill; the sex I need.  I only make love with my husband.”

One of the things I heard that I couldn’t understand was her position on anal sex where Neubert was concerned.  He kept asking her to let him have her ass and she kept telling him that her ass was only for her husband.  Why was she saying that when it was her desire to get butt fucked and her letting Dale do it that put us where we were?

At least once a week Pauline would ask me how my divorce was coming and I told her it was going slow because Sandi was fighting it and that she and her lawyer kept throwing up roadblocks. 

Once a week I’d call Pat to see if she had picked up anything and she always said she hadn’t.

“Your wife and Dale seem to be professional with each other and if they are doing anything it is away from here, but in my talks with her I get the impression that the only relationship she has with him is a working one.  She tells me that you have stopped the divorce.  Having second thoughts?”

“Maybe” I said and then wondered why I said it.

++++++++++++++++++++++++

It was a Tuesday and Pauline wouldn’t be over that night.  Off ‘visiting her sister’ she said.  I’d swung by the house and had picked up the latest from the recorder and I sat down and had a beer while I listened to the phone tape and watched the video.  There was nothing on the phone tape – there never was – just normal calls and the occasional call from Neubert setting up a date.  The video showed that Neubert had been there Sunday and I watched as they sucked and fucked and then it got interesting.

Neubert had Sandi on her hands and knees and was doing her doggie while he worked on her butt hole with his fingers.  She kept telling him to stop, but she was pushing back at him and he mistook that to mean that she didn’t really mean for him to stop.  Even I, watching the video,  knew that she was pushing back on the cock that was fucking her because that was what she always did when getting it doggie, but Neubert decided that it was his fingers in her ass that was making her respond that way.

He pulled out of Sandi’s pussy, put his cock against her asshole and started to push.  Sandi dropped flat on the bed, rolled onto her back and kicked Neubert square in the nuts.

“God damn you!  I told you no!  I’ve told you no all along and I’ve told you why.  Get your ass dressed and get the hell out of here and don’t bother calling me any more.”

It was kind of funny watching him dress while trying to hold onto his balls and as Sandi rained curses down on him.  He left and when he was gone Sandi came back into the bedroom.  She sat down on the bed, opened the bedside table, took out the framed photo of me that used to set on the table on her side of the bed and hugged it to her chest.  And then she started crying.

  I shut off the player and sat there staring at the blank screen.  I must have sat there for five minutes or so as a thousand thoughts raced through my mind.  I wasn’t even aware that I’d picked up the phone and made the call until I heard Sandi’s voice say “Hello?”